Small Claims in Florida

What is the name of your state? Florida


I am trying to recoup some money from a retailer in NY, with little success. In Florida, is it possible to add the costs of filing in small claims court ($101.50) to the suit so that a smaller suit (mine is for $150) is worth filing?

selowe said:

What is the name of your state? Florida


I am trying to recoup some money from a retailer in NY, with little success. In Florida, is it possible to add the costs of filing in small claims court ($101.50) to the suit so that a smaller suit (mine is for $150) is worth filing?

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My response:

What does this mean - - "I am trying to recoup some money from a retailer in NY"? What's the situation? What happened?

IAAL

Court costs and lawyer fees can be added to the amount you sue for. You biggest problem I see is your Florida judgement, if granted, won't be worth the paper it is printed on in New York. And it will cost a lot more than $150 to domesticate your judgement in New York.

racer72 said:

Court costs and lawyer fees can be added to the amount you sue for. You biggest problem I see is your Florida judgement, if granted, won't be worth the paper it is printed on in New York. And it will cost a lot more than $150 to domesticate your judgement in New York.

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My response:

First of all, the "prevailing party" always gets their "court costs". You don't have to "ask" for them. It's automatic. Second, "lawyer's fees" are not obtainable if you win or lose in Small Claims court - - unless there's a provision in the contract about it; e.g., "The prevailing party is entitled to Attorney's fees".

I agree with the rest of your response, Racer72.

IAAL

I only have one problem? Where was the money exchanged?

In other words, where did the transaction take place?

Re: Re: Small Claims in Florida

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE said:

My response:

What does this mean - - "I am trying to recoup some money from a retailer in NY"? What's the situation? What happened?

IAAL

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Sorry. I was trying to be brief. In December I ordered something online from a major silversmith located in NY. I paid via my Visa Check Card. At the time of the order, the company "authorized" my account for the full amount ($383.65). That was 12/18/03. On 1/2/04 they put through another authorization for the same amount (they had not yet shipped) presumably to be sure the money was still available, as the first authorization would have lifted after 5 days (or so I'm told). On 1/7/04 they authorized my account (and eventually charged it) for a partial payment of $126.93, as they had sent out a partial shipment on 1/6/04. On 1/7/04 they prepared to ship the balance of the order. They authorized my account again on 1/8/04 for $256.72 (the balance remaining on the shipment). However, on 1/9/04 they authorized it for the $256.71 and then put through the charge. The duplicate authorization caused my account (this is my checking account) to be short $256 worth of funds, so when I had 5 checks hit, the bank charged me $150.00 in overdraft fees. They paid the checks, but I am out $150.00. The silversmith says they did nothing wrong, but I have a copy of the bank's authorization report, showing the duplicate transaction. So if I cannot get anywhere with them during the conference call with the bank today I am considering taking them to small claims court. In Florida, it costs $101.50 to file a claim under $500, so I was wondering if I can include the filing fees in my small claims suit.

In Washington a plaintiff can ask for repayment of attorney fees if an attorney was consulted prior to the Small Claim filing. I assumeed, apparently wrong, that this could be done in other states. Sorry.

racer72 said:

Court costs and lawyer fees can be added to the amount you sue for. You biggest problem I see is your Florida judgement, if granted, won't be worth the paper it is printed on in New York. And it will cost a lot more than $150 to domesticate your judgement in New York.

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Can I file my suit in NY? If I can, can travel expenses be added into the suit as well? I've been looking all over the NY courts website for info on small claims court, not having a lot of luck.

selowe said:

Can I file my suit in NY? If I can, can travel expenses be added into the suit as well? I've been looking all over the NY courts website for info on small claims court, not having a lot of luck.

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My response:

Yes, you can file in New York - - in fact, that's the preferred method because it's the State of New York that has jurisdiction over the merchant. No, you cannot obtain your travel costs. That's your burden, and that's your concern because you're the one who decided to do business with an out-of-state company. And, therein lies the "economic" problem.

Next time, do business with local, or in State, merchants.

IAAL

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE said:

My response:

Yes, you can file in New York - - in fact, that's the preferred method because it's the State of New York that has jurisdiction over the merchant. No, you cannot obtain your travel costs. That's your burden, and that's your concern because you're the one who decided to do business with an out-of-state company. And, therein lies the "economic" problem.

Next time, do business with local, or in State, merchants.

IAAL

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IAAL:

They have a stores in Florida, I just used the Internet for my order because of a special they were running.

Since the problem is stemming off of an Internet transaction, do you think it would do any good to file a complaint with the FTC? I learned (unfortunately too late) that they have an unsatisfactory record with the BBB in upstate NY, but I would think the FTC would have a little more pull.

Also, a guy in my office recommended contacting VISA since it was a VISA check card that was used on the transaction, and they "reserved" more money than they were entitled to. Any ideas if that would get me anywhere?

Thanks for your help.

And why the hell didn't you tell us this to begin with?

You have wasted about seven hours to get finally to the point where someone can help you.

Yes, file a dispute with your financial institution. And when they ask, offer them all of your documentation as to price for the item (you did keep it right?) and the amounts withdrawn.

hexeliebe said:

And why the hell didn't you tell us this to begin with?

You have wasted about seven hours to get finally to the point where someone can help you.

Yes, file a dispute with your financial institution. And when they ask, offer them all of your documentation as to price for the item (you did keep it right?) and the amounts withdrawn.

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Sorry. Like I said I was trying to keep it brief. I have spoken to my bank umpteen times. They are the ones who gave me proof of the double authorization. However, since it was not a "bank error" they are unwilling to reverse the NSF fees. What ever happened to customer service? They haven't lost any money over the transaction (actually came out $150 ahead), but they will be losing a customer once this is all said and done.

Everything goes back to the silverware company. We were supposed to have a conference call yesterday but instead of getting the person I was supposed to speak to I was thrown into voice mail. One more chance today before I call the main (no longer customer service number) get someone in charge and tell them I will take them to court. As far as I'm concerned, this is theft. They were not authorized (seems to be the key word here) to authorize my account for that much money.

Thanks for all your help. Just wanted to let you know that after having my conference call with the bank and the silverware company, the bank finally decided it wasn't worth the hassle and since I was a customer in good standing, they just reversed the charges.

Not that it will probably make a difference, but I will be writing a letter to the President of Oneida and to the FTC, letting both of them know what has transpired.

Thanks again.